<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Nothing by womeninthesequel</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28224180">Nothing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/womeninthesequel/pseuds/womeninthesequel'>womeninthesequel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Deaf Character, Deaf James Potter, F/M, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Tumblr Prompt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:28:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>697</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28224180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/womeninthesequel/pseuds/womeninthesequel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: “Is it possible to love too much?” featuring deaf!James</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black &amp; James Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>74</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nothing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/theroomofreq/gifts">theroomofreq</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Is it possible to love too much?”</p><p>Stretched out on the couch in front of the Gryffindor common room fire, the shadows made by his fingers flickered over his face. When he finished signing the question, James let his hands fall to rest on his stomach. </p><p>Sirius blinked a few times before raising his hands from their relaxed position. He was sprawled over the squashiest of the armchairs with his legs over the arm. Anyone else might have looked foolish, but he managed to pull off a look of casual indifference. </p><p>“What do you mean?” Sirius signed back.</p><p>James didn’t notice that his gaze drifted across the common room until they caught a flash of dark red hair.</p><p>Quickly, he looked back to his best mate.</p><p>“Nothing,” he answered, the sign a short jab.</p><p>The eye roll from Sirius confirmed that he didn’t miss it. </p><p>“You’re pining,” Sirius pointed out.</p><p>“I’m relaxing,” James countered. For effect, he shifted and flopped back on the couch again.</p><p>“I can hear your brain spinning. Go talk to her.”</p><p>“I can’t just -”</p><p>James scrambled into a sitting position when Sirius looked away from his hands. </p><p>“ - interrupting something?”</p><p>Though he couldn’t hear the full sentence, James caught the end of the words on her lips when he became aware of another person in their space. </p><p>He could nearly feel his face heating when he realized the lips he was trying to read belonged to the girl who had his attention only a moment or so before.</p><p>Automatically, his hands went to his hair, trying to work out some of the trapped energy. It was always like this when Lily Evans was around. He wanted to say so many things at once that his hands needed something to do to keep them from forming the wrong words.</p><p>He had a particularly bad habit of saying exactly the wrong thing around her.</p><p>“No, not interrupting,” he answered, also shaking his head. James waved toward Sirius dismissively and tried to turn his embarrassment into a charming smile. “What is it?”</p><p>“Are you busy this Friday?”</p><p>James couldn’t help but notice the way her fingers didn’t hesitate over the signs anymore. She signed the sentence together and didn’t have to pause to structure her question. Her fingers moved quickly, like the signs were truly a second language instead of a halting thing she did. </p><p>He still remembered third year, when she would stumble through a series of creative insults, her brow knitted. When he pointed out a minor error, her ears would turn red and her eyes would crackle like a fire that was about to spread. </p><p>He couldn’t help but goad her a little.</p><p>“No,” James answered again, ignoring whatever Sirius was trying to sign to him behind Lily’s back. “What’s on Friday?”</p><p>“Rounds.” Lily rolled her eyes, but unlike the one from Sirius, this one suggested they were in on the same joke. “Rumor is there might be a pre-game for the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw match on Saturday. Mind helping me make sure it stays under control?”</p><p>James swallowed. </p><p>It was just rounds, he told himself.</p><p>Rounds, which meant at least an hour of walking around the castle with Lily.</p><p>Alone.</p><p>The twist at the corner of her mouth was almost a smirk. They both remembered what happened the last time they were alone. </p><p>He knew what he had been trying to ask Sirius without providing all of the relevant details.</p><p>“I’ll be there,” James signed back, managing a grin. </p><p>She met it with one of her own. The angle where she stood meant that he wasn’t sure if Sirius could see it. James couldn’t decide whether he wanted Sirius to understand her expression.</p><p>He distinctly wished everyone else wasn’t around just this moment.</p><p>“Thanks!” Lily signed quickly, beaming. “I’ll see you then.” She spared a lazy wave over her shoulder to Sirius before she jogged away to go back to her friends on the other side of the common room.</p><p>A raised brow greeted James when he looked back over to Sirius.</p><p>“You were saying?” Sirius signed with a definite smirk.</p><p>“Shut it,” James signed, heart still racing.</p><p>He couldn’t wait for Friday.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>